A Raleigh good show for Elizabeth

Nov 2 2007 Mike Davies reviews the week's cinema releases

• ELIZABETH: THE GOLDEN AGE * * *
  Cert 12A, 115 mins
  Likely to have historians apoplectic with fury, Shekhar Kapur's belated sequel to his 1998 Oscar winner is probably not recommended for students looking for a quick cram on the Tudors. But since when has historical accuracy been a prime consideration when it comes to Hollywood costume drama?

What matter there's no evidence of any manipulative Spanish backed plot to set up Mary Queen of Scots (or, as the title caption would have it, Scot's), forcing Elizabeth (Cate Blanchett) to order her execution, thereby giving Spain's King Philip II (a right mincing loony, apparently) an excuse to invade.

And why spoil a perfectly good dose of Errol Flynn-ish heroics by sticking to the facts and having Sir Walter Raleigh (Clive Owen) on dry land rather than engaging in derring-do alongside Drake in battle with the Armada?

At least the film's correct in having him romance, impregnate and secretly marry the Queen's Lady in Waiting, Bess Throckmorton (Abby Cornish), landing him in jail and her banished from court. Except this was in 1592, four years after the Armada rather than before it. And did Elizabeth throw a wobbly because she fancied old Walt herself? Probably not.

But, assuming you're not looking to be the next AL Rowse, there's no reason not to enjoy this lavishly appointed, spectacularly dressed, bombastically scored and (save for some spotty CGI ships) visually spectacular period romp.

Admittedly, it has less intrigue and plotting in dark corridors than the original but Geoffrey Rush is still on hand to play furtive as disapproving but devoted spymaster Sir Francis Walsingham. And there's still some good grisly examples of Elizabethan rendition.

As Mary, Samantha Morton is under the impression she's in a far more sober production, doing dour and dignified in death in a manner normally reserved for prestigious BBC serials.

Not so Owen who sports a 500 watt twinkle in his eye as Raleigh, a brash pirate adventurer who presents spuds and baccy to the Queen and places his cloak over the mud puddle with all the relish of a character from Terry Deary's Horrible Histories. He's a positive joy whenever he's on screen.

He also has some crackling chemistry with Blanchett who, reprising her Oscar nominated role, is, after all, the main attraction.

As you'd expect she looks imposingly stunning (albeit rather sexier than the actual 52-year-old Elizabeth) and regally acts everyone else off screen, one moment a thunderstorm of wrath and indignation, the next a vulnerable woman seeking love but aware her crown will always deny her heart. A gilty pleasure.

• 30 DAYS OF NIGHT * *
  Cert 15, 113 mins
  Basically Assault On Precinct 13 with vampires, this graphic novel adaptation is visually stylish and effectively captures the freezing conditions of its isolated Alaskan setting. It also comes with a premise that's so obvious you wonder why vampire literature never hit on the idea before. After all, where better for the undead to seek prey than a place where the sun never rises for a whole month?

Unfortunately, that and a ferociously chilling performance from Danny Huston as the imposing leader of the gruesomely fanged, guttural speaking blood suckers, is about as good as it gets.

A bland Josh Hartnett is the local sheriff in charge of protecting the dwindling handful of survivors from the bloodbath, among them his younger brother and estranged wife (Melissa George). Hartnett sets his teeth and swings a mean bloody axe (heads take several blows here to get severed), but never registers much by way of charisma or character.

Despite being unnecessarily and repetitively overlong, it still feels as though scenes have been cut and replaced by exposition. There's no background to the vampires, though there is a sly nod to Stoker's Dracula with them arriving by ship, their way prepared by the equivalent to Renfield.

There's plenty of visceral blood, gore and body hacking, but unevenly paced with dull slow patches, generally devoid of suspense and riddled with continuity errors and huge lapses in logic, there's nothing much to sink your teeth into.

• DEATH AT A FUNERAL * * *
  Cert 15, 90 mins
  There are certain things you can usually be sure of in a British farce. Someone will lose their clothes. An unexpected visitor will throw everything into consternation. Someone will consume something that makes them act oddly. Someone will be cantankerous. And there'll be mix ups, misunderstandings and mitherings. Generally, however, you wouldn't expect the setting for this to be a funeral.

That, however, is darkly gleeful backdrop for Frank Oz's ensemble comedy as friends and relatives gather to bid farewell to the late paterfamilias.

First the wrong casket's delivered to the house. Then there's son Daniel (Matthew Macfadyen), nervous about giving the eulogy because everyone thinks that job should go to his conceited but bestselling novelist brother, Robert (Rupert Graves), and not some failed wannabe who still shares the family home with mother (Jane Asher). With whom, naturally, his wife (Keeley Hawes), doesn't get on.

Cousin Martha (Daisy Donovan) has brought fiance Simon (Alan Tudyk) who's desperate to make a good impression on her snobbishly disapproving father (Peter Egan). Fortunately, Martha's pharmacy student brother (Kris Marshall) has some Valium to calm him down. Except, of course, it's not Valium. It's acid.

Meanwhile, Dan's hypochondriac mate Howard (Andy Nyman) has turned up with Justin (Ewan Bremner), a former drunken one night stand of Martha's who's oblivious to the fact she has no interest in repeating the mistake, and Uncle Alfie (Peter Vaughan), a foulmouthed wheel-chaired bound grump with bowel problems.

And, as if this wasn't all recipe enough for disaster, enter Peter (Peter Dinklage), a dwarf with a set of incriminating photographs of him and the old man, and an eye for blackmail.

As is obligatory in a farce, everyone's frantically trying to keep everything secret from everybody else. Suffice to say, by the time there's a naked man on the roof, two bodies in the coffin and various mourners on hallucinogens, things will have descended into chaos.

There's not too much by way of witty dialogue, but there is some well played physical comedy, a clutch of hilarious sitcom performances and much politically incorrect laughter. Plus one gross out but classic moment of toilet humour that is, quite frankly, just too awful to contemplate. Dead funny.

• THE LOOKOUT * * *
  Cert 15, 99 mins
  Scott Frank has been responsible for some great screenplays, from Little Man Tate and Get Shorty to Out of Sight and Minority Report. But it wasn't until after Sam Mendes and then David Fincher moved on to other projects that he decided to make this directorial debut.

It's uneven and flawed, but it certainly deserves better than this throwaway release. Rising indie star Joseph Gordon-Levitt is particularly excellent as Chris Pratt who, three years on from causing the car crash that cost the lives of two friends and his future as a jock, is plagued by both guilt and a head injury that's left him with memory gaps and unable to sequence events.

Getting by writing down everything he has to do, in the order he has to do it, he's at odds with his tough-love father (Bruce McGill), shares an apartment with blind mentor Lewis (Jeff Daniels) and works as night janitor in his small town bank. Frustrated, emotionally wounded and resentful, he wants more from life.

One day, a guy called Gary Spargo (Matthew Goode) introduces himself in the bar, claiming to be an old schoolfriend. They hang out and he hooks Chris up with erstwhile stripper Luvlee Lemons (Isla Fisher). Lewis is wary, and rightly so because, before long, Chris finds himself seduced into agreeing to act as lookout while Gary and his gang rob the bank. Predictably, the heist doesn't go as smoothly as planned.

Although more successful as a psychological character study of a man trying to overcome his disabilities and ghosts than the last act's relatively conventional neo-noir twists, Frank's direction is confident throughout, bringing echoes of Memento to bear as Chris seeks to redress his wrongs; if he can only remember what he's planned. Worth investigating.

• MAN OF THE YEAR * * *
  Cert 12A, 116 mins
  It bombed in America, has been gathering dust for a year and only arrives now as a contractual obligation before its rescheduled DVD release. But it's not the complete disaster that makes it sound.

It may not be as sharp as writer-director Barry Levinson's earlier Wag The Dog, but there's still plenty of grist to its comedic mill in the story of a TV political satirist (Robin Williams on his best form for a while) who, guided by his long-serving manager (a droll Christopher Walken), runs for President as a stunt only to find himself elected. If only as change for change's sake.

However, while now in a position to push for change, he then learns from Laura Linney, a computer programmer with the company behind the new electronic voting system, that there was a glitch in the system. Seems he's not really President at all.

But, Linney's bosses aren't about to admit to an error that could bankrupt them, and are ruthlessly taking steps to discredit her. The moral dilemma being, should Williams (who by now is romantically involved with Linney) reveal the truth and step down or run with the lie and do some good?

Less a dig at Bush and that count than a general critique of the American political system and the media and corporate interests that support it, it meanders between tone and subplots but when it bites, it does leave an impression.

• THE BROTHERS SOLOMON *
  Cert 15 93 mins
  Socially challenged after being raised at the North Pole, John (Will Arnett) and Dean (Will Forte) are, to say the least, a little odd. Relentlessly optimistic and clueless about women, when their father (Lee Majors) falls into a coma they decide the only way to wake him is by fathering a grandchild.

With attempts to hook up with prospective mothers falling disastrously flat, they hire Janine (Kristen Wiig) as a surrogate; not something that goes down well with her clingy boyfriend (Chi McBride). Meanwhile John's lusting after sexy neighbour Tara (Malin Akerman) who's offered to act as their dad's part-time home nurse.

This so desperately wants to be a Judd Apatow or Farrellys comedy you can hear the gears grinding, but it's more dumbstruck than Dumb and Dumber, more knocked off than Knocked Up.

A one joke movie, there's a couple of amusing moments and Arnett and Forte are nothing if not enthusiastic. But, for the most, the constantly grinning brothers come over as creepy rather than amusing man-child innocents.

Wiig and Akerman are criminally wasted while McBride's just used to set up gags that attack racial stereotyping only to then immediately reinforce it. Terrible.